The name Abaddon, or Apollyon in Greek, appears in both Jewish and Christian texts, but in two distinct contexts. In some cases, it seems to refer to Hell, or a specific place in Hell where the wicked are sent to suffer out of God’s sight. In other cases, Abaddon appears to be a demonic being with power in Hell. He also finds a place in later magical traditions.
Abaddon as a Place in Hell
The name Abaddon means “place of destruction” in Hebrew. The names “Abaddon and Sheol,” Sheol being the Hebrew word for the underworld, are used together. For example, in Proverbs (15.11), it states, “Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the Lod. How much more the hearts of men.” Psalms (88.12) states, “Will your loving kindness be declared in the grave, your faithfulness in Abaddon?”
There is also the implication that it is a level of Hell, with Job (31.12) stating, “for it would be fire that consumes to Abaddon and would uproot all my increase.” This suggests that it is a place where fire consumed the wicked.
The word is used in similar ways in surviving Hymns from the Dead Sea Scrolls. For example, Hymn 10 states, “the torrents of Belian (Satan) shall break into Abaddon.”
An apocryphal Jewish writing, written by early Jewish scholars but not universally accepted by the Jewish community. Some of these writings use Abaddon as a synonym for Gehenna or Hell. Gehenna was a name derived from Ge Hinnom, a valley near Jerusalem where Solomon set up a temple for children to be sacrificed to the god Moloch. For example, in the Babylonian Talmud (Er 19a), it is listed as one of the seven names for Gehenna.
A script attributed to the Hellenistic Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria in the 1st century CE, it is mentioned in relation to the final resurrection (8.3.10): “When the years of the world are fulfilled, God will quicken the dead, and raise up from the earth them that sleep: Sheol will restore its debt, and Abaddon its deposit, and every man will be rewarded according to his works.”
Abaddon as a Demonic Being
In other sources, Abaddon is described as an entity. For example, in Job, which also uses Abaddon as a name for a place, it states (28.22), “Abaddon and Death say, ‘with our ears we have heard a report of it.’” This suggests that Abaddon and Death are beings aware of some hidden wisdom possessed by God.
This is more explicit in Revelation, which casts Abaddon as a king of the abyss in Hell (Abaddon) who commands an army of locusts and who will open the pit when they did the angel sounds his trumpet and the stars fall from heaven (9.1-11). This is also where we are told that his name in Greek is Apollyon.
This has led to the suggestion that Apollyon, which means “the destroyer,” was related to the god Apollo. He was a god of prophecy, law, and purification, but was also known to set plagues upon men, like the locusts commanded by Abaddon.
Abaddon in Witchcraft
Abaddon appears in the Keys of Solomon, a medieval grimoire dating to around the 13th century, which claims to have been written by the hand of the ancient Jewish king Solomon. In a Latin manuscript version of this text, dated to around 1600, Abaddon is used as one of the names of God as an invocation for protection and success in magical operations. The invocation uses many names of God. In the case of Abaddon, it says that Moses invoked God by the name and sprinkled dust towards heaven, resulting in a great raid calling upon men, cattle, and flocks, causing them all to die.
Abaddon also found its way into magical practices. In Frances Barrett’s The Magus in 1801, he gives Abaddon as the name of one of the furies, who he describes as powers of evil, discord, war, and devastation. They are related to the seven lower spheres of the kabbalistic tree of life, which are also called the seen heavens or seven palaces. Each fury has a name, and the seventh is called Abaddon. Barrett states:
“The seventh mansion the furies possess, who are powers of evil, discords, war, and devastation; whose name in the Revelation is called in Greek, Apollyon; in the Hebrew, Abaddon, that is, destroying and wasting.”
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